Saturday, February 28, 2015

Did ya' hear? Our Chicago Community Organizer-in-Chief kept one the few promises he's made since ascending to our POTUS Throne and actually vetoed the Keystone XL Pipeline.Yes, kiddies, even though more than 60% of Americans favor the construction of this job-rich public works project; and even though it would be built using more than $8 Billion of private, none of yours-or-mine tax money; and even though it would create more than 45,000 union jobs, each paying more than $50.00 per hour; and even though it would result in more than 800,000 brand-new barrels of oil we could use to buy our freedom from those Middle Eastern butchers who hate us and want us dead; and lastly, even though the project has garnered five separate approvals from our feckless State Department over the past six years and five months, our Golfer-in-Chief went ahead and vetoed it. Why, one has to ask?Well, my friends, and you are my friends, here's three of the many reasons:- First, the eco-weenies among us, to include the Sierra Club, the Oceans Foundation, Little Robbie Redford and one Mr. Tom Steyer, a California hedge fund billionaire who makes most of his money from so-called "green" projects, give huge amounts of money to Barry O'Bama and the Democrats. Steyer, as an example, gave $100,000,000 (that's One Hundred Million Dollars!) to the Democrats during the 2012 election if they would support candidates who opposed the XL Pipeline. They did, he did, and they rewarded him by allowing him to give a speech in the Halls of Congress to his sycophantic weenie backers. Imagine that. Harry Reid invited Tommy Steyer to address the members of the Senate. Something tells me there were no Republicans in attendance. Would anyone like to make a snarky comment here about the Koch Brothers?- Second, oil needs to be transported from where it's pulled from the ground to where it needs to get refined. We all know that pipelines are the safest method of transport. Buuuuut, it will get transported, one way or the other. I represents a Trillion Dollars to Canada, and, just like South Dakota, and Idaho, and Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma, it's coming out and it's going to get transported.What's that got to do with the Barry O. veto story? A whole bunch, Pilgrim. It turns out that one Mr. Warren Buffett owns and operated BNSF. What's BNSF, you might ask? It's Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroad. And BNSF has a contract to transport Canadian crude into the United States at the very, very profitable rate of $30 per barrel. What will it cost to send it south via pipeline? Ready? $10 per barrel. Oh, and it turns out Buffett, the third or fourth richest cat in America, is a really good friend of Barry's. And he gives him lots and lots of really big donations. Getting the picture? I thought you would.- Third, "Good Ol' Barry wants us to believe that this project will produce only...ready for it?...35 permanent jobs. Really? Six thousand miles of pipeline will produce only 35 permanent jobs? His own State Department calls him a liar. But, then again, so has nearly everyone else. Because he is. Remember all those "shovel ready jobs" the Trillion Dollar Stimulus Plan was supposed to produce? The same jobs that Barry later stated weren't "shovel ready, after all." Yeah, right...- Third, and I know this will hard for many of you to process, but I think it may just come down to pure and simple politics. Remember I commented early that Barry the First was from Chicago, and Chicago politicians only know one way to politic? Well, take a look at the route of this proposed pipeline. It will go across the border from Canada and head through Wyoming and South Dakota. There, it will match up with the portion of the pipeline already built, and head south through to the Kansas/Arkansas border. And thereafter, on south through Texas to the refineries of Louisiana.Did you notice something about that route? It goes directly through the heart of Red Country! Every state that the pipeline crosses is a solid red, deeply Republican, vote-against-Barry-every-time-they-can, piece of real estate. Something else, each of the states mentioned received less than half the Federal funding over the past six years than the good, solid deep-blue states received. One thing you gotta' give him, he may be America's CEO, but he does his job just like he was the Mayor of Chicago. Reward his friends, punish his enemies.In fact, in an interview with "Vox" recently, he stated emphatically that he views his job as POTUS as just like being mayor of a very large American city. Same problems, just more and bigger. More friends to reward, more enemies to punish...So, lets sum up: We already have more than two and one-half million miles of pipeline in America up and running. When was the last time you heard of a pipeline leaking? Like, never? And when was the last time you heard about a train or a truck dumping a full load of crude on the ground? Ummm, like yesterday? Yeah. And the Canadian tar sands oil is coming out of the ground. Count on it. Where it goes from there is the question. It will either head south and benefit America, or it will head west toward the docks in British Columbia and wind up on a ship bound for China. And, my friends, ships have a tendency to capsize. Remember the Exxon Valdez?And lastly, just for your reading pleasure, let me slap you across the face with one last factoid. While the XL Pipeline was being discussed, interminably, and unsuccessfully, the State Department of the United States of America quietly approved 81 other pipeline projects! Apparently, those 81 other pipelines didn't represent a threat to America, or the atmosphere, or Global Warming, or anything else. Just this one!I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick to my stomach...

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Okay, kiddies, it's my turn to gloat.Dedicated readers of my little blog will recall that I made a rather brash prediction in these august pages a bit over a year ago (check it for yourself...January 29, 2014). I predicted that a then little-known guy would run for, and win the Grand Old Party's nomination for President of the United States, and then go on to win the Election. Yes, my friends, and you are my friends, I took a deep breath and put figurative digital pen to digital paper and predicted that one Scott Walker, Governor of the bright blue state of Wisconsin, home of unionization, ground zero for Liberalism, would be our candidate, and go on to win the Presidency.Back then he wasn't even on the radar. Only news junkies like me were watching and learning that he was dueling with Wisconsin's unions big-time. He decided that his state's habit of collecting dues from its citizens' paychecks and then passing them along to union fat cats didn't make sense. Especially since we all know that the unions take those millions and millions of dollars and use them as a Death Ray against conservative candidates for office.He decided that his state's multi-billion deficit was a time bomb for Wisconsinites. He vowed to fix it, and then return some of the tax money to those who paid it.And he decided that WI teachers shouldn't have an arm lock on education. Rather, it should be the parents and taxpayers who should hold the reigns, he opined. Thousands of angry union thugs trashed the venerable old WI Statehouse. They did over six million dollars of damage to it while trying to get Walker turned out of office. They tried to recall hin, the first such effort in Wisconsin's history. He won that recall election. And then he ran for reelection and garnered an even larger percentage of the vote than he did in either his original run or in his recall. He ended state collection of union dues and erased his state's deficit. And he's not only erased the state's debt but built up a several billion dollar rainy day fund. He's kept his promises (what a concept!). And in doing so he's started to gain national attention.Now, after having jumped over better known candidates, announced and unannounced, Walker is starting to be considered the front-runner. We know that because the Libbies have started taking potshots at him. Their main meme is that he shouldn't be president because he never graduated from college. Of course, neither did George Washington, Abraham Lincoln or Harry S. Truman. And I'd venture to say that even Libbies would say they did a pretty good job. Oh, and Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Henry Ford, college dropouts all, did pretty well also. And, we know that education doesn't necessarily indicate success in a job. Just look at the overeducated dufus currently infesting the White House if you need proof. Walker's not won the nomination, yet, nor has he won the Election. But so far, my friends, he's on track to do both, thus giving my long-ago prediction some heft. He scares the Hell out of the Left, because they know he could win. A plain-talking, roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-to-work, Midwestern promise-keeper that exemplifies all of the very best qualities of leadership. And you read it here first. As Mrs. Chuckmeister has stated, if my prediction turns out to be correct, I deserve my own political talk show. I couldn't agree more...

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Well, my friends, it's that time again. Time for clearing my figurative throat and uttering some more of those resolutions. You know, the ones that we (that would be you) always make, and we (that would be you) never keep. Except for me. The Chuckmeister. I always keep my resolutions. It's just that I never make resolutions I can't keep. Which means my resolutions are, well, strange. And here are a few more strange ones to whet your appetite. 1. Instead of drinking three bottles of wine and staggering off to bed at a decent hour, I resolve to drink those same three bottles, or maybe even four, and going to bed later. Not too much time left for the Chuckmeister on this side of the grass. Might as well enjoy as much of it as possible.2. Having already recognized that hyper-liberalism is a true mental illness, I resolve to take it a little easier on these unfortunates than normal. After all, just like the gay are born gay, I'm guessing the Libbies are born commie pinko weenies. It's not their fault, right? It's just not fair to hold them responsible for their own shortcomings.3. I resolve to be nicer, kinder and more gentle with those who just frankly aren't as smart as I am. And their number is legion. I mean, lots and lots of folks are in that ignominious category. Not you, of course. You read my enlightened little blog. But almost everybody else is in that grouping. 4. I resolve to spend my remaining "wealth" on only the important things. Junk food, great wine, high-quality entertainment and my grandkids. My kids are not included, because Mrs. Chuckmeister and I have already given them boat-loads of help already.5. I resolve to post an essay on this, my (in)famous little blog more often than my usual once every couple of weeks or or so. With exception of the time during which we moved to our new digs in Wine Country (Fortress Chuckmeister), I've averaged about that. But that, according to my tens of fans, is just not enough. So, prepare for even more Ramblings of This Troubled Mind.6. I resolve to go to the shooting range more often than in past years. As my eyes begin to lose their hawk-like, world-renowned acuity, it takes a bit more practice in order to be able to drop an inbred miscreant from twenty paces. But I should still be considered armed and dangerous. I issue this little challenge to anyone likely to bust unannounced into the Fortress Chuckmeister looking for some spare change: Don't. 7. I resolve to get a bit more exercise than normal. Taking out the garbage, shaving, and refilling my wine cooler is no longer proving to be enough to keep my "guns" loaded. Now, I intend to get up from my comfy lair on my overstuffed Encantada leather couch and go to the bathroom twice an hour instead of the usual once.8. Lastly, I resolve to gain ten pounds. It's so much easier, by the way, to gain it than it is to lose it. And it's so much easier to keep resolutions like that one than the ones that involve Marie Osmond and her Nutri-System fix...